..am going nice and easy and polite thanks - 2hrs 37 mins later/13 mins later just checking and i apologise for coming up with similar ideas prior to yours
no Graham. i've just been on this Forum for too many years - hope you find the problem quickly and it's not too damaging.
Please keep us updated. Threads like this scare the crap out of me, but I can’t help myself, I need to find out the answer too!
what year is your bike ? There was a common problem with main crank bearings on the early 1200s around 20k miles mark.... I had this problem on my 2010 but didnt stop the bike starting .... not much help and probably nothing to do with main bearing, hope you get to the bottom of it and nothing major
Well the missus accidentally took my keys to work so I couldn't get into the garage (the spare is on her keys which she also took) So I'll begin the checks tomorrow The bike has been on a charger (I'm starting to think the battery took a bit of a battering with multiple starts in a row) not that I'll be starting it until I know what is wrong
Plugs are out .... When I walk the bike, what am I looking ('feeling') for? I have my assumption on this.... but I want to get it 100% ... Clutch in or clutch out when I walk it? I think I'm going to get a crankshaft turning tool I may sometimes during this ask what appear to be silly questions but id rather ask silly questions and get the correct answer/confirmation than assume and mess it up (I'm mechanically minded and do most of my own work but this is my 1st time dealing with this sort of thing)
I’d put it on the centre stand, assuming you have one, put it in gear and turn it over with the rear wheel.
don’t worry about this at all mate there are no stupid questions. I can’t be the only person watching the thread closely so I know what to do in case it happens to mine!
answering you Graham as you asked me the question - so with plugs out, select 2nd gear and walk bike with clutch in to start with to get the feel of "virtually no resistance" while walking. Then carefully try letting the clutch out while walking to see how easy it is to turn engine over, but if noisy or back wheel skids rather than turns engine over then stop of course. This is just one suggestion to try and work out how reluctant engine is to turn, there are many others. I should have said before any of this - how were the plugs? anything unusual/did they both look about the same?
If nothing learnt from looking at spark plugs or turning engine over then time to drop the oil as you quite rightly said at the beginning.
Plugs are fine ... Normal brown colour Rolled with clutch in slowly letting out ... Meeting more resistance then with 10% or so travel left on the lever, a slight ticking noise ... Clutch fully out came to a stop, won't budge (like it would fully assembled plugs in, in gear, if you tried to move it) Hope that makes sense. And thank you all again for your continued advice (and patience!)
oh dear, really sorry to read this. I'm sure many can add their thoughts now, will await news on oil and filter contents.
How do you say "oh bugger" in Italian? Loads of shavings round the plug.... I've cleaned one of the bigger pieces up (pic 2)
As I feared unfortunately, looks likely crank/ bottom end/ shells. Get it apart, it may not be too bad.
